The Netherlands’ education and research IT cooperative is running pilots with open source tools, placing working alternatives alongside existing Big Tech services
From today, a gigantic internet cable runs from the earth to the moon. Because the moon revolves around the earth, the cable also passes your schoolyard. All children and adults must therefore make a jump over this cable once a month.
Students can choose a username. They can identify themself or choose not to. The application (mastodon) receives a pseudonymID from the identity provider (educational institution).
SURF and Universities of the Netherlands are jointly exploring Mastodon as an open source platform for education and research in the Netherlands. In which public values are paramount. They launched a pilot in February 2023. Dutch students and researchers can join and discover how students, researchers, staff and institutions can experiment with Mastodon in a low-threshold way.
Setting up a Mastodon environment requires considerable expertise in ICT infrastructure, software, security, privacy, but also in moderating content. By joining forces, educational institutions do not have to do this alone.